


The Destruction of Station 32

by AshKetchup98



Series: Lost Worlds [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-02-23 04:36:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23805886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshKetchup98/pseuds/AshKetchup98
Summary: Earth has gone quiet, Command of the Interstellar Fleet has fallen to the net of stations surrounding the Solar System, but one has failed to report inPart two of the Lost Worlds series
Series: Lost Worlds [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1715125
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

With a flash of golden light, the S.F.S Vigilant exited Quantum Drive and returned to sub light speed. The Vigilant was a Defender class battleship, with a length of half a mile and was equipped with 15 plasma cannons, 6 on each broadside, two forward cannons and one at the rear, and the United Earths deadliest weapon, a Partical Acceleration Cannon. This weapon was capable of launching accelerated particles, and when they hit, an unstable singularity would form ripping the target apart. This particular armament took up most of the length of the vessel, creating a rounded dorsal fin above the main body of the ship. 

Captain Gregory Morgan looked at what was supposed to be Station 32 through the main view screen. But what he saw was a mess of metal fragments, something or someone had destroyed the station totally. Station 32 was one of 45 Spacefleet space stations in interstellar space around humanity's home star system. When Spacefleet Command on Earth went quiet on March 12th 2194, authority over the interstellar fleet fell to Admiral Ross on Station 01, 2 weeks later Station 32 had failed to report as was weekly routine for the interstellar net. Ross had sent Morgan and his crew to investigate why. 

"Oh my god!" Lieutenant Reyes gasped at the sight. "It's gone!"

"Thank you for the obvious, Lieutenant. But that doesn't solve why or how." Captain Morgan answered back. "Cranie, what is that at the top of the wreckage?"

Commander Cranie looked down at the instruments in front of her and replied. "It looks like the command module, readings show that it is largely intact."

"Looks like whoever did this didn't do a thorough enough job." Morgan said with a dry laugh. "Burke, take us in."

"Yes Captain." The young helmsman replied and the Vigilant returned to motion. She veered towards the command module slowly, knocking into several fragments of what were the other decks of the station, which had once inhabited 500 people. After 5 or 6 minutes the Vigilant's docking port was aligned with the modules airlock.

"Reyes, take a team over and see if you can't find out what happened here." Captain Morgan barked to the Lieutenant, who nodded and left the bridge.


	2. Chapter 2

The Vigilant docked with the command module of the wreckage with an audible thud which could be heard from the airlock. Lieutenant Mateo Reyes pressed the control to open the doors with bated breath. With the situation it was a given that he was not going to like what was inside. 

He entered the command module first, followed by 6 more officers. Reyes lifted his arm and 7 lights including his own activated on the end of their plasma rifles, they could never be sure what they were going to face.

"Keane, take Michaels and D'Arpino and search for survivors. The rest of you are with me, let's see if we can reboot the computers." Reyes instructed his team. 

"Yes, sir." Keane replied and she and her team moved to check on the bodies littered across the wreck. 

In the torch light, the command centre looked like it had been bombed. Computer monitors were smashed by debris and sparks still flew from the live electrical feeds. It took time for Reyes to find an undamaged monitor and he got Tucker to work downloading their record files. 

"Lieutenant, we have a live one!" Keane called out.

Reyes sprung to life and carefully approached the source of his colleagues voice. When he got there he saw Keane helping a barely conscious crewman to his feet. In the limited light Reyes saw that there were hunks of metal debris stuck in his left leg. The wounded man moaned as he stood, using Keane as his crutch, he lifted his head and Reyes saw that a large piece of debris was sticking out of his right eye socket. He had cuts and burn marks all over his face and his uniform was in tatters.

Reyes looked the man in his remaining eye and asked softly. "Do you know, who, or what did this?" 

The man didn't like that, he trembled in distress and attempted to push Keane away. But she and Michaels, who jumped to help her steady the man, were too strong and kept him under control. He was repeating something, a word, over and over again, little more than a murmur at first. But after half a dozen inaudible repetitions, Reyes could finally make out what he was saying. "Miami." 

"I'm sure he doesn't mean the city." Tucker quipped, having finished the computer download. 

"No," Reyes pondered. "Maybe it's the S.F.S Miami. I need to speak to the Captain." Reyes activated his communicator and spoke. "Reyes to Vigilant, Captain I think the Miami has something to do with this."

Captain Morgan stood from his chair and replied. "The S.F.S Miami? That can't be, Captain Phillips wouldn't do this." He frowned as he spoke. He knew Allan Phillips from the Spacefleet Academy, he was a good man. 

"Captain," Commander Cranie interrupted. "There's a ship coming out of quantum space, 600 miles, 80 point 4 bearing!" 

A flash of golden light suddenly appeared on the other side of the station wreckage. Out of it came a Reflex class ship, the S.F.S Miami. 

"Lieutenant, get back to the Vigilant. We have company." Captain Morgan ordered over the communicator.


	3. Chapter 3

A lump formed in Captain Morgan's throat as the Miami approached the Vigilants port side, stopping 50 miles away from Morgan's larger ship.

"Hail them." Captain Morgan ordered.

"Yes Captain." Commander Cranie pressed a few buttons on her console and with a light beep the view screen showed a young dishevelled man, his eyes manic, a beard unkempt that looked like it had been growing for weeks.

"S.F.S Miami, good to see you. Where is Captain Phillips?" Morgan greeted the man, who was a stranger to him but the buttons on his uniform indicated he was a Lieutenant.

The man on the Miami's bridge let out a deranged laugh, then shouted, "Don't you see? I am the Captain now!" His index and middle fingers pointing to his eyes, which twitched in a way that disturbed Morgan and created a pit in his stomach. 

He knew exactly what the young officer meant, mutiny!

"You'll be court marshalled for this!" Morgan raised his voice but attempted to conceal the anger in his voice. Captain Phillips, his friend of many years, deserved far better. 

During the exchange Reyes finally raced back to the bridge and took his station by the tactical controls. Morgan gave him a look and his expression turned from exhausted from running the decks of the Vigilant, to focused and ready to do what needed to be done. Morgan liked that about his Lieutenant, he always seemed to be ready for anything the Captain threw at him. He made a mental note to finally recommend Reyes for promotion. 

"Oh certainly!" The dishevelled mutineer sang. "But you'll have to take us alive first!"

The viewscreen shut off and in a split second the Vigilant was rocked by the impact of a plasma bolt. "Shields holding!" Reyes reported. "Should we return fire Captain?"

"Yes, Reyes, target their shields, weapons and engines!" Morgan barked back.

The port broadside of the Defender class ship flared to life, releasing volley after volley of crimson plasma bolts. Raining fire on her smaller opponent. The Miami returned fire, causing damage all across the Vigilant, but they were hopelessly outgunned. Soon the Miami's shields were gone and all 8 of the plasma cannons were reduced to twisted metal ruins on her hull. The Vigilant fired off a few more, well placed shots, and the Miami's engines exploded, totally destroyed. 

"The Miami is disabled." Reyes sighed in relief, beads of sweat coated his face from the intensity of the battle.

"We have 18 injuries, and 7 dead. Only minor damage." Commander Cranie reported with a raised voice, the only way she could hear herself over the chatter coming from her earpiece.

Morgan closed his eyes and gave himself a moment to grieve for those that didn't make it out of this totally avoidable fight. It seemed the rest of the bridge crew did too as a silence blanketed the room. With a deep breath he sprung back to the job at hand, there were still traitors who were not yet in his brig. 

"Cranie, hail them." The Captain sighed. Commander Cranie silently followed his order and the viewscreen once again showed the bearded mess of a man. He was bleeding now, one of his eyes shut and purple with a piece of metal poking out between his swollen eyelids. 

"You are beaten and defenceless, surrender now!" Morgan yelled at the screen.

The traitor just laughed maniacally and barked back. "You still haven't taken us alive!" The screen shut off again.

Cranie looked at her instruments with panic etched on her face. "Captain! They've set their quantum reactor to overload!"

Morgan almost choked in shock, before recovering himself and asking. "Do we have time to get clear?"

Burke the helmsman looked back at Morgan with fear in his eyes. "No sir."

"Then we'll have to use the PAC turret." The Captain responded, his heart racing at having to use the giant partical accelerator atop his ship. "Burke, get us in position, Reyes charge it up and fire on my command." 

The two young men nodded and sprung to life. Burke manoeuvred the Vigilant to port 80 degrees as quickly as the sub light engines would allow him. When the Partical Acceleration Cannon was lined up to the Miami, Reyes looked to the Captain. 

"Fire." Morgan instructed him. The entire ship recoiled back from the force. Outside a microscopic accelerated particle made the nanoseconds long charge at the mutineer's ship. When it impacted, a small black hole expanded, tearing apart and consuming the Miami so fast that if anyone blinked they'd miss it.

"Target destroyed." Reyes said in awe at the singularity he had brought to life. That did not last long however as less than a minute later, the black hole folded in on itself and became nothing.

"Burke, take us to Station 1, I'm going to need to report what happened here to the Admiral in person." Captain Morgan ordered his helmsman, who set a course. The Vigilant left the site of the battle with the golden flash of its quantum drive.


	4. Chapter 4

The journey to Station 1 was eerily silent. Barely anyone spoke at all.

Reyes excused himself from the bridge to take a shower and from there, steadily, everyone including Captain Morgan did the same. It seemed everyone on the ship wanted to wash the battle away from them. Morgan could not blame them, that's why he took extra long to return to the Captains chair.

It was not to go on record but he cried in that shower. Captain Phillips, Alan, was dead, and in no honourable blaze of glory that they had spoken about as young men back at the academy. No, he was stabbed in the back by a mutinous scumbag. Gregory punched the shower screen so hard that it cracked. Just the thought of the man, no, the sub human, that he had put to a rightful death filled him with rage.

Despite putting an end to one band of criminals, what had it cost? The lives of everyone on Station 32. Almost everyone. The crewman that had survived was being treated in sickbay, he'd lose his eye but prosthetics were very advanced in the 22nd century. People had been known to lose limbs and be able to lead unhindered lives.

Commander Cranie had gone down to see him, she found out his name was David White, a young ensign on his first interstellar assignment. He told her the Miami had come out of nowhere, her guns already blazing. The station tried to hail them, to stop the madness, but they stood no chance, and within minutes it had been destroyed. When Cranie told Morgan this he felt sick to his stomach, and noticed the tear escaping his first officer's eye.

Although this was only one incident, Captain Morgan could not help but think something far bigger than this, something far worse, was going on.

He was still thinking about this when the Vigilant returned to sub light speed, now a few hundred miles from Station 1. 

They were hailed and a woman appeared on the viewscreen, she could not have been more than 20 year old. "Hello, Vigilant, you have permission to dock at docking bay 3." She said with a smile. 

"Good, thank you Station 1, tell Admiral Ross I need to speak with him." Captain Morgan replied. 

"Yes sir." She nodded and the screen went blank. 

"You heard her, Burke, docking bay 3." Morgan ordered. 

Burke did as ordered, steering the ship into her assigned docking bay. The clamps on the stations docking bay closed onto the Vigilant, and with a quiet thud the crew knew they were home. 

"All of you take some time to rest up while we're here." Morgan instructed his bridge crew. "Reyes, let them know we will need a repair team to get to work ASAP." 

"Yes Captain." Reyes nodded as they both left the bridge. 

Admiral Ross was there to meet the Captain as he stepped onto the station. "Greg, what's the situation with station 32?" Ross asked. He looked young for his age, but his eyes gave away the vast amount of experience he had. 

"We should go somewhere more private." Morgan replied, looking around. "If that is okay with you, sir?"

"Of course Captain." The Admiral smiled and led Morgan to his office, several floors up, just below the command module.

They stepped inside the well decorated office and the Admiral asked if Morgan wanted coffee. Morgan politely declined so Ross asked the synthesizer to make one, white with two sugars. When he had his beverage, the Admiral moved to sit down at his desk. Morgan took the seat in front of him. 

"So, what's your report on Station 32?" The Admiral asked, taking a sip of his drink. 

Morgan looked to the floor before answering. "Destroyed, by the Miami. Only one survivor."

"The Miami?" Ross gasped. "Captain Phillips would never-"

Morgan lifted a hand and the Admiral stopped. "Captain Phillips was not in command, his crew mutinied." 

The Admiral leaned back on his chair, absorbing what he had been told. "I'm sorry Greg, I know he was a friend." 

A moment of silence followed between the two officers, before the Admiral continued. "And where is the Miami now?"

"I tried to apprehend the crew, but they attacked us, so the Miami was destroyed in battle." Captain Morgan explained. "No survivors."

"I see." Ross pondered.

"Permission to speak freely, Admiral?" Morgan asked.

The Admiral nodded and Morgan continued. "I think there's something far worse going on, I can't put my finger on it, but there's something."

"You're not the only one that thinks that, Greg." Ross replied. "I've been hearing reports from all over the interstellar fleet, just a feeling of dread, unease. It could be what drove the crew of the Miami to do what they did." 

"Interesting theory, sir, but still doesn't justify the murder of a good man, or hundreds of innocents." Morgan answered, having to contain his own personal emotions.

"Indeed, Captain." Admiral Ross conceded, finishing his coffee in one gulp. "Once the repair crews are done with the Vigilant, I want you back in space."

"Yes Admiral." Morgan answered.

2 days later, March 29th 2194, the S.F.S Vigilant was fully repaired after the battle 3 days earlier. Captain Morgan made his way from his guest quarters on Station 1 back to his ship. On the corridor he passed docking bay 2, the doors opened and the Captain stopped to see who had arrived.

A young woman ran out of the doors towards him. She practically yelled at him, "I need to speak to Admiral Ross!"

She looked so much like Commander Joe Allen, another one of his Spacefleet academy friends. 

"Why, what's wrong?" Morgan asked her, he could see the fear and despair in her eyes. 

She looked at him, tears flowing from her eyes. "Earth is gone!"


End file.
